Middle East Market Wrap 3 September: Kuwait Trades Through the Attacks and 7 of 9 Markets Rise

By The Edge Research Team

Kuwait’s army said on Thursday it was confronting hostile missile and drone attacks from Iran, per CNBC, and Boursa Kuwait still opened, traded and closed a full session, with the All Share Index slipping 0.21 percent. Across the region the board leaned higher: 7 of the 9 headline benchmarks tracked here rose, on our count, a near mirror of Wednesday’s session in which 7 of 9 fell, and Egypt’s EGX 30 led at plus 1.06 percent, its third consecutive advance against our published closes.

Kuwait absorbs the escalation

Kuwait’s army said the explosions heard in the country on Thursday were its air defenses intercepting missiles and drones, per CNBC, and Boursa Kuwait completed a normal session. The All Share Index closed at 8,847.93, down 0.21 percent, the Premier Market Index slipped 0.20 percent to 9,246.08, and the BK Main 50 rose 0.32 percent to 11,000.85. Over the two sessions since the escalation began, the All Share has lost 0.63 percent, on our calculation.

The exchange’s own economic indicator board carried the other half of the story: Kuwait’s export crude marked at 98.23 dollars a barrel, up 2.12 dollars, a marking that reflects the previous session under the state oil company’s daily pricing. With Brent more than 1 percent higher on Thursday, the oil side of Kuwait’s ledger remained supportive even as its equity market slipped 0.21 percent.

The region rises around it

Most of the Gulf closed higher, and the advance was broad rather than carried by one market: Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat all ended the day with gains. Amman’s ASE Index was the strongest advancer after Egypt at plus 0.58 percent, Qatar’s QE Index turned 0.13 percent higher after falling 1.03 percent on Wednesday, and Bahrain’s All Share was the only other headline benchmark to fall, easing 0.11 points to 1,938.55.

The gap between the strongest and weakest benchmark was 1.27 percentage points, on our calculation, on a day of reported missile and drone attacks in the Gulf. Brent crude stood 1.25 percent higher at 96.83 dollars a barrel at the 12:21 GMT capture, gold was up 1.85 percent at 4,496.10 dollars an ounce, and the dollar index was 0.48 percent lower.

Egypt’s third straight advance

The EGX 30 rose 1.06 percent to 56,270.32, its third consecutive gain against our published closes, on our calculation, and the strongest move on the regional board. The Central Bank of Egypt’s exchange rate listing for 3 September put the dollar at 50.8780 pounds buy and 51.0168 sell, leaving the pound roughly 0.32 percent firmer than Wednesday’s listing, on our calculation, so Egypt’s currency and its blue chip index strengthened together on a day of regional escalation.

Asia steadied earlier on Thursday, with 6 of 10 benchmarks closing higher, per our Asia Market Wrap of 3 September.

Closes for Thursday 3 September 2026, ranked by change. Every level except Qatar was read at the index’s own exchange, each carrying its own closed session stamp or dated closing table. The Qatar level comes from a market terminal, the exchange’s own site having rendered an unusable value, and its 12.83 point rise reconciles exactly against this series’ published close for 2 September; the exchange is not credited. The DFM and MSX changes are those exchanges’ own published figures; the MSX points move implies 0.28 percent against our published 2 September close, a rounding gap of 0.01 percentage points. Every other change reconciles against this series’ published closes for 2 September, with Amman’s implied prior close consistent with the rounded figure we published. The count of 7 of 9 rising uses 1 headline benchmark per market: EGX 30, ASE Index, DFM General, MSX 30, FTSE ADX General, Tadawul All Share, QE Index, Bahrain All Share and Kuwait All Share; the remaining rows are additional segment or comparison gauges.

Quotes captured at 12:21 GMT on 3 September 2026, ranked by change. Intraday levels taken before the day’s settlement windows; futures changes are measured against the prior session’s settlement, so they are settlement to intraday. Contract months are those quoted at capture. Kuwait’s export crude price in the body is Boursa Kuwait’s own economic indicator, read with the closes; it reflects the previous session’s price under the state oil company’s daily pricing.

Why it matters: The region’s markets just produced a live stress test. Kuwait’s broad index gave up 0.21 percent on the day its army reported confronting missile and drone attacks, while 7 of the 9 regional benchmarks rose, on our count, and the region’s export commodity climbed. That does not read as indifference: gold’s 1.85 percent jump shows demand for cover, on our reading. What it does show is a contained first response, with Brent near 97 dollars providing a counterweight for the region’s oil exporters, while Kuwait’s latest official barrel marking stood at 98.23 dollars. Egypt is not among the countries reporting attacks this week, per the same reporting, and its market is behaving like it, with the EGX 30’s third straight advance and a firming pound compounding into a domestic story of its own.

Outlook: The next session tells the durability story: whether Gulf boards hold these levels through another session of heightened security risk, and whether the oil premium keeps building or fades on any sign of easing. Saudi Aramco’s official selling prices, normally published around the fifth of the month, will show how the producer side is pricing its own barrel into the escalation. For Egypt, the test is whether the index’s run survives a fourth session and whether the pound holds its gain, on our reading.

Sources: CNBC, Boursa Kuwait, Saudi Exchange, Dubai Financial Market, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, Bahrain Bourse, Muscat Stock Exchange, Amman Stock Exchange, The Egyptian Exchange, Central Bank of Egypt, Kuwait News Agency, The Edge.

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